Yaya Toure

MONEY-MAD Manchester City are to make Barcelona reject Yaya Toure the highest-paid player in Premier League history by handing him a phenomenal five-year deal worth a minimum £55.6MILLION.

Toure will become the first footballer in England to smash the £200,000-a-week wage barrier.

And today we lift the lid on the craziest contract in English football - signed off by City chief executive Garry Cook.

The staggering sums will astonish fans already fed up with over-paid stars failing to justify their super-sized salaries.

Ivory Coast midfielder Toure - who played just 16 games for the Spanish champions last season - will receive a guaranteed £4.1million a year basic salary AFTER tax.

On top of that he will get an image rights payment of £1.65m a year (with a profit-share on his shirt sales) PLUS an £823,000 bonus each time City qualify for the Champions League PLUS a £412,000 bonus for winning Europe's top competition PLUS additional bonuses for winning the Premier League and FA Cup - all tax-free.

It means City will pay him a basic salary this season of a whopping £185,000 a week before tax.

Incredible

That figure will rise to an incredible £221,000 a week next April when the Government's new 50 per cent tax bracket comes into force - dwarfing the wages of England stars Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard and John Terry.

It also means City will have to fork out a basic £55.6m in wages over the five years - with that figure set to soar if Roberto Mancini's team are successful.

That is on top of the £24m transfer fee - making the total deal a minimum £79.6MILLION.

Toure - younger brother of City defender Kolo - passed his medical in Manchester last Monday after the transfer had been ratified by incoming Barca president Sandro Rossell, and the move was completed on Friday.

Toure, 27, has joined a squad full of inflated salaries as City go in search of the silverware to justify billionaire Arab owner Sheikh Mansour's remarkable outlay.

"This is a dream come true," said Toure.

"I have always wanted to play for the same club as my brother and I am so happy that it has finally happened.

"It's great for our family.

"Kolo told me that it's an amazing time for the club and a very exciting project.

"I love the Premier League and I watch it all the time.

"City did very well to finish fifth last season but I hope we can improve on that by qualifying for the Champions League.

"This is a big club and that has to be our first objective and then we have to look at winning championships as well."

City have also signed David Silva from Valencia for £24m and £11m Hamburg defender Jerome, and are still aiming to complete a £25m deal to buy England midfielder James Milner from Aston Villa.

But it is the details of Toure's mega-contract which will send shockwaves through football.

After lengthy talks with Barcelona and Toure's agent Dimitri Seluk at the end of the season, Cook finally made his offer in the week before the start of the World Cup.

City's in-house lawyer Simon Cliff, appointed from Shearman and Sterling in April 2009 and previously a consultant for Sheikh Mansour, helped mastermind the extraordinary deal.

History

Toure made just 13 starts for Barcelona in all competitions last season after losing his place to Spanish World Cup star Sergi Busquets and completed 90 minutes just nine times.

But now he will become the highest-paid player in the history of the Premier League.

Toure will earn a basic £5.75m a year AFTER tax, meaning he will take home £110,500 a week.

A trifle excessive perhaps for a player who has never played a full league season for any of his previous clubs.

And a trifle excessive perhaps for a Barca substitute who manager Pep Guardiola told was surplus to requirements at the Nou Camp.

Granted, Toure was outstanding in Barca's 2009 Champions League final victory over Manchester United in Rome.

But, incredibly, City believe his arrival suddenly turns them into major players and are convinced fans will all soon be wearing City shirts emblazoned with Toure's name on the back.

And, despite having four defensive midfielders on the books in Gareth Barry, Vincent Kompany, Nigel de Jong and Patrick Vieira, City still felt the need for a fifth.

The figures went through the roof just as Seluk was threatening to pull the plug on the entire deal.

Cook held several meetings in Barcelona with Seluk, along with football administrator Brian Marwood and various other City officials.

During City's amazing bid for Toure, they also offered to use their considerable "muscle" with sportwear manufacturers Nike and Umbro to get the midfielder a better boot deal.

Italian coach Mancini now has to somehow shoe-horn Toure into City's bulging team.

And Mancini has been left in no doubt by Cook they want Premier League title glory this season.